Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game A Campfire moose hunt in Idaho

This story will be relatively short because the hunt was short...really short. The friendship and circumstances that preceded the hunt go back years though.

I think it's been a little more than a decade ago now that Tim (TDN) and I met here on the Campfire through a bullet purchase. We had a shared love of Model 70s and just sort of hit it off. He has graciously hosted me for a whitetail hunt on his family's farm twice now. The most recent being last fall when my son (Rowdy) joined in on the hunt and we were both lucky enough to tag a buck. Those two hunts on Tim's family farm are the only two out-of-state hunting adventures I've ever been on. Our family budget is modest, which made the opportunity that much more special for my son and I. Tim's family and friends are some of the best people I have ever shared a beer with, and that last trip with Rowdy was truly a magical experience to share with my son.

I hosted Tim for an elk hunt a couple of years ago, and to my utter astonishment we were able to get him on an a pretty fair, OTC bull within the first 30 minutes of opening day. It NEVER happens that way for us, and yet it did. Tim had a sufficient amount of fun that he decided a return trip was warranted. We talked about it a bit and decided he'd apply for a Shiras moose tag this time. I've had a good run on Moose hunting here in Idaho. I killed my own, once-in-a-lifetime bull almost 20 years ago, and have served as a guide to more than a half-dozen friends and family in the same area since then. We've been 100% successful, so I was confident if Tim could draw the tag we'd find him a bull.

The odds of him drawing were stupefying low. Someone has to draw the tag(s) though, so why not him? He put in last spring, and I more or less forgot about it in the weeks that followed. One random day in June I believe it was, I received a phone call from a VERY excited Tim. He was talking a thousand miles an hour so I only caught about every third word, but I managed to piece together he had been notified by IDFG his name had been drawn for one of the bull moose tags! In the weeks that followed we landed on a block of 8 days that worked for both of our schedules. To say we were excited is an understatement.

IDFG has cut bull tags by 75% since I drew some 20 years ago. They will tell you moose numbers are WAY down across the state. Maybe that's true...I don't guess I don't really know. I'm not a wildlife biologist. All I can tell you is we would see 13 bulls in a 24 hour span in the area we were hunting, and over 30 moose in total. I digress though.

Tim flew in to Boise late on a Thursday night. My lovely wife made out the hide-a-bed for him in the guest bedroom/office, and we quickly called it a night. Tim didn't need to be woken the next morning, as I could hear him shuffling around the kitchen as I jumped in the shower. I had everything loaded and ready to go of course, and we were on our way for the 6-hour drive in no time. The miles passed quickly as we talked guns, kids, and life in general. It was great to catch up with my old friend. I decided to take the long way in to our intended camping spot with the thought that it would give us a better look into the area we'd be hunting for the next week we intended to hunt. We stopped to look over the country a little bit, and were both immensely pleased to see a cow moose staring back at us within the first 20 seconds of getting out of the truck. The last 10 miles seemed to CRAWL by, as the excitement to start hunting was building with each mile. We finally arrived at our intended destination, and hastily threw up the wall tent and unloaded the ATV.

I think we left the campsite at 4:00 pm, knowing it would be a brief, evening hunt as we only had about two and a half hours of daylight left to work with. A few rough miles and an hour later, we parked the ATV and started hiking towards my favorite glassing spot. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see one in the little draw below us" I said as we started walking. Just as we came up to the little shelf I like to sit, I looked down and sure enough a small bull was standing there a couple of hundred yards below us! If you look closely, you'll see the little fellow just off the end of Tim's finger....



He wasn't a bull either of us were particularly impressed with, but it sure was a good start to the hunt. We quickly sat down and broke out the glass to survey the surrounding area. It took me all of about two minutes to spot another bull across the drainage from us. Tim was MUCH more excited about the second bull...



He was just "okay" imho, but Tim very much wanted to chase him. In addition to being a bit "marginal", I was also dubious we'd be able to get on him within the limited daylight we had left. "Besides" I argued, "We're FIVE minutes into the hunt. How about we take a minute and just enjoy this thing!". That was easy for me to say of course, as my kids are both older and self-sufficient. In fact mama and my daughter were off in North Idaho visiting Rowdy in college. Tim wasn't quite as fortunate in that regard. He has three kids under the age of 12, and Covid had just made it's way through his young family the week prior. I was honestly a bit shocked Tim's lovely wife had allowed him leave the mess of it all with her as he pursued moose with me in Idaho. I would have gladly hunted for the entire week I had taken off, but I also understood the family benefits for him of getting his tag punched sooner than later.

I told him 40" was kind of my base-line for a good bull before we ever left Boise. The bull we were looking at was a beautiful animal, but would fall a couple inches short of that. We argued for a couple of more minutes before I finally convinced him I could turn the bull up in the following couple of days if we didn't find anything better. A few minutes later I was glassing off to the west when I noticed a long tine sticking up through the sagebrush. "I think I see another bull" I said. I couldn't get a good look at him as all I had was a side-profile of him. Tim soon glassed him up and suggested we, "Go get a better look"....my man was EXCITED.

The bull was at about 900 yards when I first spotted him, and below us about 500 vertical feet. We began angling down towards him, mindful to keep the wind in our favor. At about the 500 yard mark we broke out the spotters for a better look. I could tell he had really long eye-guards and weaker palms, but not much else as we still just had the side profile. Finally, he rotated his head and looked up at us as I gave a soft coyote "bark". When he did, it was apparent he was over 40". I think Tim was already in motion before I pulled my face away from the spotter. I scrambled to keep up as we descended another 100 yards or so to get in a better position for a shot. I say that because any notion I had that we might pass on this bull was dispelled by the speed at which Tim was moving down the hill.

The bull was still bedded and seemingly oblivious to our approach as we closed in the last few yards. We managed to get Tim in a prone position and comfortable as I ranged the bull for him. The rangefinder read "375" and Tim quickly dialed the appropriate distance on my .300 WSM. As he settled his breathing and motions, I leaned in and whispered "Take just one second and enjoy this moment. The hunt is about to be over in a flash". He grinned up at me, and we shared a quick laugh as he settled back in and flipped off the safety. Seconds later, the .300 barked and the bull floundered to his side. I think we were both a little surprised to see him slowly gather himself and get his front end under him. "Hit him again" I said. Tim had already worked the bolt and responded by squeezing the trigger for a second time. Again I heard the bullet find it's mark. Again the bull floundered a bit, but kept his feet under him. To Tim's credit, he kept calm during all of it. He would ultimately absorb four shots, and all were well placed. He only made it a grand total of about 5 yards from his bed, but it was still pretty amazing to watch him absorb 800 total grains of ELD-X before he finally tipped over.

Here is Tim just after the final shot....




to be continued.....

Hell yes! Awesome story and hunt!

Congrats and great write up. Look forward to the next chapter.

Very nice, looking forward to reading more.

Superb. The power of the CF to bring like minded folks together for a great time - looking forward to part 2.

Excellent!

That is a great story and so cool the way it played out. Congrats to Tim and to you for guiding.

Damn Dave you the man. Mb

LIKE !

I was wonderin' when this would make it to story form.

That's cool as hell. Damn, man – you've lugged an awful lot of meat this year.

Yet another epic iddave thread - you are spoiling us this year with your mad adventures!! Congrats to you both - waiting patiently for more pictures:)

Good deal. Luv it...

A 6 hour drive from Boise and country that looks like eastern Idaho....Palisades area? Lots of moose in there.

Keep bangin til the meats hangin!!!

Dave, hurry up and post the story....I’m wearing out my refresh the page button on my iPad.

LOL

🦫

Anticipation.....

My partner and I got our Idaho bulls close to 20 years ago. We drew our 1st try. At that time the drawing odds were very high, 2 to 1 in the area where we drew near Yellowstone. It's MUCH harder to draw now. In the unit closest to me with moose, unit 54, there were only 3 tags available this year and 295 applicants.

And.......

Awesome write up and pictures from a couple of good guys . Well done for you both !

were is the rest of the story . congrats to both of ya'll

What he do sell his rifles to fund a plane ticket?? Congrats on the moose..